After all the hints in the Austin Chronicle, The Backyard is finally closing. My immediate response…good riddance to the overpriced venue! It’s folding up in mid-Fall *still practically Summer weather here) because of all the development that now surrounds it: restaurants, an enormous mall and traffic. One can’t really enjoy a good show with such distractions is my guess. I beg to differ. I have been to numerous concerts at Stubb’s outdoors for a decade and despite being smack in the middle of downtown Austin, parking has been its only weakness.
In defense of the Backyard, it was responsible for an awesome initial memory and experience when I first moved to Austin in 1994, the Sarah McLachlan concert I won tickets from KGSR to see. It took place in early March while the weather was spectacular: warmer than the Midwest and before the heat Texas has for six months. We (Doc, Eiko and I) had a great time even though we were too late to see the opener (the Devlins) and the geography of Bee Cave was puzzling. It was great to see the Canadian singer while she was still a rising star.